Latinos, blacks threaten legal action over Orange districts

September 21, 2011|By David Damron and Jeannette Rivera-Lyles, Orlando Sentinel

A coalition of black, Hispanic and Democratic activists complained Tuesday that Orange County's redistricting process so far has resulted in proposals that would weaken minority voting strength.

At the same time, a national Latino civil rights group said it's considering filing a federal lawsuit against Orange over an appointed panel's refusal to carve out a Hispanic-majority district and for proposals to do away with an existing majority district for African Americans.

"Orange County is inviting a lawsuit, at the expense of taxpayers to defend it," said Juan Cartagena, Latino Justice's president and a lawyer of the New York-based group. "We will leave no stone unturned to make sure that any civil right violation is proven in court."

The Orange redistricting advisory panel will take up its three remaining map options today and could "tweak" them before sending one or more to elected commissioners for a final say, said Assistant County Attorney Whitney Evers.

Members of The Black, Latino and Puerto Rican Alliance for Justice say any of the three options the advisory panel has left would need significant revisions to restore the voting strength of blacks or to come close to carving out a majority minority district for Latinos.

"I don't think they can tweak their way to justice," said group member Doug Head, a former county Democratic Party chairman.

A 15-member redistricting advisory panel was appointed earlier this year by county commissioners, who faced immediate criticism for failing to include any Puerto Rican appointee, despite a surge in residents moving into Orange from that U.S. island commonwealth.

Throughout the redistricting advisory panel's public hearings, Hispanic activists pushed for a majority-minority district, where Latinos would be most likely to secure a commission seat.

Currently, no Hispanics sit on Orange's elected board. Commissioner Mildred Fernandez was removed last year after being arrested on corruption charges. Her trial starts next month, but then-Gov. Charlie Crist appointed a non-Hispanic, Lui Damiani, to take her spot.

Many Puerto Ricans have rallied around a proposal by black activist David Rucker, who crafted a map known as Proposal E. Rucker's plan would keep District 6 as an African American majority-minority district among voting-age residents. And it would have raised District 3, where Hispanics are the strongest voting-age block now, up from 41 percent to 49 percent.

Last week, when the advisory panel whittled down more than a dozen map proposals, Proposal E was left out of the final three.

The plans that emerged would not noticeably increase the Latino voting-age population in any district above what District 3 has now, which is 41 percent. And in all three options, the share of voting-age blacks drops in District 6, a majority-minority seat held by Commissioner Tiffany Moore Russell, who is black.

"It stacks the deck against minorities," said Head, during the group's news conference Tuesday in Orlando. "We'll be forced to call on the courts for a solution, if there's not another solution offered."

That's what it took in Osceola County.

The Latino Justice group successfully sued the city of Kissimmee in 2005 to force it to go to single-members districts, claiming that its at-large system denied Hispanics appropriate representation. The U.S Department of Justice settled a similar lawsuit in 2007 that resulted in Osceola County government creating single-member districts.

Hispanics fared better in Osceola County's redistricting process. District lines approved earlier this summer created two Hispanic-majority districts out of its five seats. In two others, Latinos are at least 43 percent of the overall population.

Hispanics said they are bracing for a battle that would mirror past struggles for women's and black civil rights fights.

"We are being sent to the back of the redistricting bus," said activist Dennis Freytes.